Vessels for holding large volumes of an electrically conductive fluid material at high temperatures must have sufficient structural strength to support the contained material without deformation. For example silicon at its nominal melting point of 1410° C. has a nominal density of around 2500 kilograms per cubic meter; consequently a vessel holding a cubic meter of molten silicon would need to support about 2.5 tonnes of molten silicon. Typically a solid vessel constructed from a high strength material such as a stainless steel would be used as the holding vessel. However if the hot fluid material also needs to be electromagnetically stirred in the holding vessel by coupling the material with an alternating magnetic flux field originating external to the vessel, eddy currents induced in the solid stainless steel vessel would overheat and structural weaken the vessel. Additionally the resulting electromagnetic forces will apply a torque to the vessel as opposed to the hot fluid material contained within the vessel.
It is on object of the present invention to provide a combination holding and electromagnetic stirring vessel for an electrically conductive fluid material particularly when the fluid material is at high temperature.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a high structural strength vessel for transporting high density electrically conductive fluids or molten materials, and a stationary apparatus for electromagnetically stirring the materials in the vessel when the vessel is deposited in the stationary apparatus.